Just a reminder that next weekend is the Town-wide Cleanup organized by the Greenfield Girl Scouts. Please stop by and lend a hand if you see the Girl Scouts out and about.

The Greenfield July 4 Committee is looking for volunteers and for people to participate in the July 4 parade marking the 250th anniversary of our nation. Floats, antique cars, horses, bikes, and anything that rolls are all welcome. The theme is “Independence Day.” To sign up for the parade or if you have any questions, please email Karen Day at greenfieldjuly4parade@gmail.com.

Registration is still open for the July 4 Sparkler Sprint 5K, which will start at 9 am at Oak Park (registration starts at 7:30 a.m.) All ages and abilities are welcome! To register and for more information, go to runsignup.com/Race/NH/Greenfield/GreenfieldSparklerSprint5k.

The Friends of the Meetinghouse are looking for volunteers to read the Declaration of Independence in front of the Meetinghouse at 9 a.m. July 4. Please email greenfieldmeetinghouse@gmail.com if you would like to volunteer — all are welcome.

Meetinghouse community center now open

This month marks a new chapter for the Greenfield Community Meetinghouse, which will be 231 years old this summer. The Meetinghouse Community Room space is now open for town residents at no cost on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon, and from 1 to 3 p.m. The space is perfect for parties, meetings, classes, children’s activities, and other events.

Shannon Bilodeau, who many people in town know from Oak Park Committee, and her work with the Farmers’ and Crafters’ Market — not to mention her wonderful cotton candy machine — is the very first director of the new Greenfield Community Center. We are so fortunate that Shannon could take on this role for our town.

The Community Center room is a beautiful, brand-new space, and it is fully accessible, thanks to the new elevator. The Friends of the Meetinghouse recently purchased appliances for the new kitchen, and they should be in place by June. Residents wishing to reserve the Community Center should email the town office at adminassist@greenfield.nh.gov.

The renovated Community Center is a result of a years-long collaborative effort by the Town of Greenfield, the Friends of the Greenfield Community Meetinghouse, and just about every organization in town, who all came together to apply for a $1 million New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority community center grant.

These grant funds were used to renovate the Meetinghouse, and particularly, to restore the Community Room and Community Kitchen in the basement, which had been badly damaged by water and needed extensive upgrades for safety, code and accessibility. For 75 years, the basement community room was the hub of activity in town, hosting everything from Women’s Club events to yoga and dance classes, and from community suppers to receptions, workshops, and meetings. Visitors from out of town, and especially from outside New England, are often amazed that our Meetinghouse is still our only community center, and still the heart of our town.

The reopening of the Community Center is the latest in a long line of milestones for the Meetinghouse. The building was raised on Sept. 16, 1795, by “a hundred Greenfield boys and men.” Supplies purchased for the day included “a hogshead of rum and 50 lbs of codfish.”

In November 1825, the first bell was installed in the belfry. No one knows exactly how the bell, which weighs 903 lbs, was hoisted all the way to the top of the bell tower. Town histories do not reveal how this feat was accomplished without modern equipment; it is staggering to think about lifting a nearly 1,000-lb solid metal bell without a crane, but early 19th-century townspeople figured it out, and no one was killed in the process.

In 1837, the town raised $300 to rotate the building to its current orientation, facing south. This is why the cemetery is oriented east-west, like the original building, which faced Francestown Road.

In 1891, a “ladies committee” led Greenfield schoolchildren in raising money $350 to purchase the clock for the clock tower. This clock is still in perfect working order thanks to town volunteers, especially George Rainier.

In 1900, the second-floor sanctuary space was renovated, and in 1904, the stained glass windows were installed, funded by families in town.

In 1938, the Women’s Club Grange, the Ladies Benevolent Association, and the Sportsman’s Club, along with funds from the town, installed the small kitchen on the first floor.

In 1947, the town raised the building, poured a concrete foundation, and added a basement, the forerunner of what is now our beautiful new Community Center. Old timers in town remember the story of how men and boys dug the basement out by hand one summer, and the dirt was dumped at what is now open space next to Harvester Market, directly across from the common.

In 1977, the town renovated portions of the building, which at that time housed the Town Clerk’s office, while the “Tri-Town Kindergarten” held class in the basement.

In 1983, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2016, after extensive water damage in the basement, the town received an LCHIP grant to assess the condition of the Meetinghouse, and restoration plans began.

All historic information is from Historic Building Assessment for the Greenfield NH Meetinghouse by Mae H. Williams, Preservation Consultant & Misiaszek Turpin pllc, for the Town of Greenfield, 2019. The assessment is available on the Town of Greenfield website.

Reporter and Greenfield resident Jesseca Timmons is secretary of the Friends of the Greenfield Meetinghouse. For more information, go to greenfieldmeetinghouse.org.

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